Where are the Sports Jobs? New Data May Surprise You

Getting out from under your parent’s roof after high school is a liberating experience. College opens you up to a world of experiences, ones that will form you into the type of person you hope to be.

For most people in college the main focus is on your school work and laundry, because room and board is paid for.

But this baby step to independence is only 4 years.

Reality comes knocking on your third floor dorm door faster than an all-nighter hopped up on 5-hour energy. And as graduation approaches your parents might be humming the joyous sound of pomp and circumstance, while all you can hear is,” Gotta get a J-O-B if you wanna be with me.”

Chances are your world is about to be turned upside down, because next to no one gets a job in the same spot they went to college.

Familiarize yourself with this word: relocate. Because that is what you are probably going to do. Graduating and getting a job down the street - life is rarely that easy.

Instead you’ll be packing all of your worldly possessions into the back of your black Jeep Wrangler and headed somewhere. But where? Where will you start calling home? Where will you make new friends? Where will you lease your next apartment?

How the heck should I know? I’m a sports guy who graduated college and moved from Delaware to Atlanta to start work at CNN/Sports Illustrated.  At the time, Atlanta was a hot bed for new jobs since the 1996 Olympics we’re quickly approaching.  But where are the trends now? Where are the new hot spots?

"The good news for people looking to work in sports is that the industry is rapidly growing,” says ABODO Senior Communications Manager Scott Radbil. “It's clear that opportunity is available, specifically in the sports industry, in major cities across the country. Whether you are a writer, broadcaster, coach, athletic director or a videographer, opportunity is available in major cities across the U.S., specifically in cities like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Seattle."

Radbil and his team at ADOBO recently published a study on the best cities for job seekers in 2016 and as you refine the research to include just Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media jobs, the results are intriguing:

While six of the ten seem quite reasonable, there are four that I would consider at least a mild surprise (Nashville, Columbus, Denver, Austin). And just as big a surprise as their inclusion is the exclusion of typical power cities.

Where’s Chicago? Dallas? Philadelphia?

According to ADOBO’s research in conjunction with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Austin offers 17.7 jobs per 1,000 in Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Media, Nashville 15.5, Columbus 14.8. Compare that to the power cities I mentioned; Chicago 13.5, Dallas 12.0, Philadelphia 13.3.

Truth is they aren’t all that far behind, so they are still extremely viable places to look for work in the sports and entertainment industry.

In the last year we’ve posted sports jobs from every state in the union, but not all states are created equal. It stands to reason if you really want to work in sports broadcasting your chances are better in Connecticut (ESPN & NBC Sports) than in Montana (don’t know). But who would have thought Columbus, Nashville and Austin were in the top ten of sports career destinations?

You learn something new every day.